In preparation for the next pandemic, the COVAX global vaccine facility “needs a pot of money, where they can be early movers” in competing for, and securing, vaccine doses. That could help scenarios like the ones seen recently, in which rich countries cornered the market on the first available COVID-19 vaccines, leading to severe shortages […] Continue reading ->
Researchers have quickly developed an outstanding arsenal of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics to counter COVID-19. But closer global coordination of diverse clinical trials testing the same or similar treatments, extending even to a global platform to pool anonymized patient data, could strengthen and accelerate research findings – especially as emerging variants threaten to unwind gains. […] Continue reading ->
A draft “Rome Declaration” to be issued at next Friday’s G-20’s Global Health Summit, co-hosted by Italy and the European Commission (21 May), makes a series of 10 sweeping commitments to ensure equitable access to vaccines; expand medicines manufacturing capacity; assure WHO access to sites posing an outbreak risk; and invest in global health systems.  […] Continue reading ->
IBADAN – The Nigerian government has decided to move ahead with a second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine for the nearly 2 million citizens who already received the vaccine – despite advice from Africa CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO), that vaccine-strapped African countries could also choose to administer just one vaccine dose  – […] Continue reading ->
India’s COVID crisis has laid bare the health costs of inadequate access to medical oxygen supplies – faced by many other countries even before India’s pandemic surge began.  Already in February, WHO said that oxygen shortages to treat those seriously ill were impacting more than half a million people in low- and middle-income countries every […] Continue reading ->
KAMPALA – A chorus of human rights organizations, joined by the United Nations, have condemned Uganda’s controversial law that criminalizes same-sex relationships, sex work and imposes mandatory HIV testing on people accused of rape – calling on the east-central African country to amend the law as it would violate human rights standards and undermine public […] Continue reading ->
IBADAN – The US government’s decision to support a temporary waiver on intellectual property related to COVID-19 vaccine patents & other knowhow in the World Trade Organization (WTO) is a positive development, said key stakeholders in Africa’s health ecosystem on Thursday.   While US President Joe Biden’s reversal of the previous US position against the waiver […] Continue reading ->
The United States has swung its weight behind a hotly-debated proposal by India and South Africa to suspend intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines for the duration of the pandemic. The dramatic turnabout in the US position, announced Wednesday evening by US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, signals a sea change in the balance of powers […] Continue reading ->
“If we could participate in the WHO and World Health Assembly (WHA), the warning messages we would give to the organisation would receive more weight, and this would probably result in better responsive actions.”  – Taiwan Health Minister Shih-Chung Chen Arguably, Taiwan has been repeating this statement  for decades. Yet when Chen’s mild words are […] Continue reading ->
A new appeal about the course of the SARS-CoV2 virus hunt, penned by an international group of scientists, urges WHO member states to seize the moment of the upcoming World Health Assembly to adopt a much tougher mandate, with more rigorous scientific measures, to get to the truth of whether the SARS-CoV2 virus first infected […] Continue reading ->